the threat to yemen to the region and indeed to the u.s. homeland posed by what it is now called al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is demonstrate by suicide bombers trying to carry out operations in the capital and the attempt to assassinate the assistant minister of near yer in saudi arabia and the attempted bombing of the u.s. airliner on christmas day and the number of us have been increasingly concerned over the past 2-and-a-half years by the developments we have observed there and last april i approved a plan developed with our ambassador in yemen, u.s. in attention agencies and the state department to expand our assistance, to key security elements in yemen. with yemeni president's approval we executed the plan last summer and strength end the operations carried out against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in mid december and have been executed periodically since then as well. and with your support, we are working toward expanded sustained levels of assistance, in yemen. in fact, our efforts in yemen should not just be seen as part o